First what the heck is it?
The great media scholar Henry Jenkins describes the key elements to participatory culture to include low barriers to participation, strong support for sharing, informal mentorship, members who feel that their contributions matter, and who care about others’ participation. In essence:
New technologies in this day and age have allowed the average person the opportunity to participate in the altering and documenting of media content that already exists. A widespread way that fans of popular culture participate in this is by creating fan fiction. In Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars?:Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture Jenkins states,”Fan fiction helps to broaden the potential interest in a series by pulling its content toward fantasies that are unlikely to gain widespread distribution. Fans envision a world where all of us can participate in the creation and circulation of central cultural myths.”
I decided to analyze fan fiction from my favorite show, Friends. (1994-2004)
Friends helped to launch the careers of people like Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc. Hard to believe, that you wouldn’t already know, but it is about six friends in their twenties, living in Manhattan and trying to get through life. Being such a smash hit worldwide it is understandable that fan fiction exists for such a recognizable show.
On Fanfiction.net I came across many posts for the show and I chose one at random. The author of this particular post has previously written five stories about Friends. It seems as though this person takes suggestions prior to writing the fan fiction from others on the site. The author, on her own personal page says that writing is her own personal hobby and that the TV show Friends is her all time favorite show. Being a loyal and passionate lover of Friends personally, I appreciate that the author is not someone who feels as though the way the show was originally written was not right. From the start, the author, who goes by the name, MaryFriends, makes note in bold letters the changes that were made from the true story. She states the differences in her story like Ross (David Schwimmer) staying married to his second wife, Emily and living together in London rather than deciding to stay in New York City. The main difference that the author wanted to make clear is that Ross agreed to not see Rachel, played by Jennifer Aniston ever again. The story is also written from Ross’s perspective rather than an overview of all the characters as usual.
Since the writing completely changes the path of one main character, it adds something new to the story. I think the author did a fantastic job keeping the story realistic for the characters involved. They easily could have made a widely outlandish account of the characters, but they kept it within the realms of what would seem believable on Friends. These changes tell you that the desires of the fans are that they still love the show. Friends has been off the air for almost eleven years and it still has such a huge following. It’s relatable to so many people because we all go through crazy experiences with our own friends like the characters on the show. Also the show isn’t dated by its original airtime. There might be a few instances here and there but the majority of the show cannot be dated as a 90’s or early 2000’s show. Since Friends has been around for over twenty years it’s always gaining new followers. With newer generations coming from the digital age, they have extended Friends to the world of fan fiction, to show their love for the show. Scrolling through the different fan fiction stories some authors change the show drastically. To name a few. I came across people who killed off characters, changed sexualities and even wrote fan fiction about the actors behind the characters. It all depends on the author and sometimes the feedback that they receive.
Fan fiction will always be apart of participatory culture and evolve through time as technology evolves. It makes people feel a connection socially and it keeps a part of the show alive even after it has ended.
DJ Jean 